A Lethbridge, Alta., high school student was suspended last week for selling non-diet soft drinks to his peers, violating school nutritional and marketing policies and drawing the ire of administrators.

Keenan Shaw, 17, a student of Winston Churchill high school, received a two-day suspension for violating the school’s diet-only soft drink rules.

Mr. Shaw arrived at the school last week carrying a case full of pop, which was recently banned from the school.

He began selling it to fellow students, knowing he was flouting the administration’s restrictions on the drink but not expecting the punishment.

“I thought it was a joke,” Mr. Shaw said. “I didn’t think they could [suspend] me for selling pop.”

The teenager began selling pop from his locker after learning that the school had banned non-diet soft drinks, a policy adopted from the Lethbridge school board’s nutritional guidelines. The venture proved wildly popular with his peers: Mr. Shaw said he sold his first pack in mere minutes. He spent the next week repeating this routine; generating more revenue and pouring it back into the purchase of pop.

But when administrators got wind of his scheme, their response was quick and decisive.

He said they warned him that if he didn’t give up the burgeoning business, “they were going to sever the student-school bond” — which Mr. Shaw interpreted as expulsion.

Lethbridge school board’s superintendent, Sheryl Gilmour told the National Post that Mr. Shaw violated a nutritional policy and ignored marketing and distribution rules, which resulted in the two-day suspension.

While selling banned soft drinks wouldn’t warrant a suspension, Ms. Gilmour said a “steadfast refusal to follow school policies” coupled with “persistent and pervasive” skirting of school rules could ultimately lead to it.

“At some point, there could be a refusal from the student. They might say, ‘I won’t follow your rules,’” she said. “In that situation, a school doesn’t have a lot of avenues for disciplinary action [aside from suspension].

“It’s about refusing to comply with rules.”

That doesn’t sit well with Mr. Shaw’s mother, Alyssa Shaw-Letourneau, who takes issue with the school quashing her son’s business.

“I like the idea of him being an entrepreneur,” she said. “I know there’s rules, but I tend to think suspensions are for major problems.”

But Ms. Gilmour stressed that the suspension wasn’t triggered entirely by the business, but rather his refusal to heed the advice of school staff.

“I won’t dispute he took action on a market, just like an entrepreneur would,” said Ms. Gilmour. “But entrepreneurs have to follow rules, too.”

She noted the importance of measures like the ones taken against Mr. Shaw in ensuring that students aren’t bombarded with advertisements and marketing in schools.

“Schools are an environment free of advertising and merchandise — unless previously approved by the principal,” she said.

Related

Rayne Kuntz, a spokeswoman for Covenant Health, wouldn’t confirm the suspensions because she says it is a human resources issue.

Friends of Medicare said that on Sept. 1, staff saw mice on the face of a woman who has dementia and whose disabilities would have prevented her from removing the rodents.

Covenant Health has said that while a mouse was seen in the patient’s room, there is no medical evidence that the woman was bitten by rodents.

It also said that staff did not document anything.

The allegations have prompted Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne to call an investigation under the Protection for Persons in Care Act, along with a review into whether health standards were breached at the St. Therese Villa.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/13/three-employees-suspended-at-home-where-mouse-allegedly-nibbled-dementia-patients-face-union-says/feed/0stdA health-care advocacy group says a dementia patient at a long-term care home in southern Alberta is recovering after a staff member found mice nibbling at her faceMice found 'nibbling' on dementia patient's face in Lethbridgehttp://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/09/mice-found-nibbling-on-dementia-patients-face-in-lethbridge/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/09/mice-found-nibbling-on-dementia-patients-face-in-lethbridge/#commentsMon, 09 Sep 2013 16:46:17 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=361241

A dementia patient at a long-term care home in southern Alberta is recovering after a staff member found mice nibbling at her face, a health-care advocacy group says.

“We found out that last Sunday … one of the staff of that facility walked into this resident’s room and found mice nibbling on her face,” Sandra Azocar, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said Monday.

“The lady was in fact bitten and now she’s been medically treated for that. … I’m completely horrified. I think it’s beyond words. I can’t imagine being that lady who had this happen to her.”

The woman also has disabilities and would not have been able to move the mice off her face, Ms. Azocar said.

Emotionally it impacted her and she’s on medication to prevent infection

“She’s doing OK. Emotionally it impacted her and she’s on medication to prevent infection.”

Ms. Azocar said a nest of mice was found in the woman’s closet.

Staff at the 200-bed facility operated by Covenant Health first complained about mice about a year ago, Ms. Azocar said. She added the care centre, built in 2008, also has had a bed bug infestation for about nine months.

Shelley Murphy, a vice-president of Covenant Health, said the mice allegation was being reviewed.

“If this happened, what we would do immediately is treat the patient, we would immediately clean up the area,” she said.

Covenant Health calls itself Canada’s largest Catholic health-care organization with more than 14,000 physicians, employees and volunteers serving in 12 communities across Alberta.

Ms. Murphy said a report on the review will be submitted to Covenant Health’s chief operating officer, Alberta Health Services and Health Minister Fred Horne.

She acknowledged that St. Therese has had mice problems in the past.

“On occasion, mice do get into buildings. We have traps set at the doors. We make sure that the housekeeping is done to a very high standard,” she said.

“We have audits to ensure that our standards are being adhered to so that our buildings are kept very clean.”

Friends of Medicare questioned whether that is the case.

Ms. Azocar said it is unbelievable that this would happen in a wealthy province such as Alberta.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which represents workers at the care home, said it has filed a complaint with Alberta Occupational Health and Safety officials about mice and bed bugs at St. Therese.

AUPE vice-president Glen Scott said such pests have been an ongoing concern at the care home.

“Aside from the risk of mice infestation presents to immobile seniors, it also creates concerns about staff and seniors being exposed to droppings, carcasses and nests, which can carry deadly hantavirus,” he said.

The union and Covenant Health are in arbitration over a first collective agreement for workers at St Therese.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/09/mice-found-nibbling-on-dementia-patients-face-in-lethbridge/feed/1stdA health-care advocacy group says a dementia patient at a long-term care home in southern Alberta is recovering after a staff member found mice nibbling at her face